Mount karisimbi, inactive volcano Virunga Mountains

Mount Karisimbi Volcanic Mountain forms part of the voluminous Virunga Mountain Rangesand is recorded to be an inactive volcano in the Virunga Mountains. It neighbors Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo on the border at 4,507 metres. Mount Karisimbi is the highest of the eight major mountains the ranges, part of Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift.

Mount Karisimbi is flanked by Bisoke to the east, Mikeno to the north, and Nyiragongo to the west, on the other side of the Rift Valley. It’s a popular feature and is ranked to be the 11th highest mountain in the whole pearl of Africa. The name Karisimbi comes from the word ‘amasimbi’ in the local language, Kinyarwanda, which means snow. Snow can mostly be found during the dry season in June, July and August on the top of the volcano.

It can be seen that between Karisimbi and Bisoke is the Karisoke Research Center, which was founded by Dian Fossey in order to observe the mountain gorillas living in this area. Mount Karisimbi is filled by viscous lava flows and two explosion craters. The large one being , 1.2-km-wide Muntango pit crater, and is located south of the summit of the basanitic-to-trachytic volcano. Climbing Mt Karisimbi is normally a 2 days hike, It starts early in the morning and covers 6 hours.

It involves navigating through the Bisoke side before reaching the first stopping place at an altitude of 3,700 metres for overnight camping before finishing off the journey the next day. Interestingly, there are adventures to explore while on the hike, this normally dome as you sight see through avaierities like the numerous bird varieties, primates like monkeys, Gorillas, tortoises, butterflies, among others.

Due to its nature and position in the volcanoes park, the place is dominated by exotic plants in its four belts of vegetation, from the dense forest at its base to the barren volcanic core at the summit. The hike up the summit is characterized of muddy trails especially during rainy season, though due to the altitude, expect patchy drops of rainfall.This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Rwanda. The other volcanic mountains in Rwanda include: